Shantae
Shantae is the eponymous protagonist of the Shantae series. A half-genie, and the guardian of Scuttle Town, Shantae works tirelessly to thwart the plans of the nefarious lady-pirate, Risky Boots, or other forces threatening the town. The character was created by Matt Bozon and his wife Erin Bozon. Personality As the Guardian Genie of Scuttle town, Shantae lives in the small snug lighthouse by the sea where she can spot incoming ships and trouble. During the events of the first game, she is portrayed at the beginning as young and somewhat naïve. In addition, her strong sense of justice drives her to help people in need. She chases Risky Boots across the map in order to stop her plans, and has a strong enmity for the Pirate as a result. Slightly shy, Shantae is initially afraid of the citizens of Scuttle Town discovering her status as a Half-genie. In addition, she often puts herself down; believing that only being half-genie is not good enough. After being tricked by Risky near the end of the game and subsequently thwarting her plans, she overcomes her ingenuity and shyness and comes to terms with these anxieties, and is happy that the townsfolk still accept her. Shantae has a deep care for her assumed uncle, Mimic, as well as her friends Sky and Bolo, and at the end of the first game gives up on the chance to enjoy eternal peace in the Genie Realm in order to be with them. She also considers the zombie Rottytops as her friend, although Rotty's own attitude towards her, while friendly for the most part, is more ambivalent, as she does not hesitate in claiming she would like to eat Shantae's brains (which Shantae seems to take as a joke). In Shantae: Risky's Revenge, she's shown to have grown more confident, enough to believe that she's the only person able to stop Risky Boots and discarding Mimic's suggestion that Sky and Bolo should go instead. In the end of the game, Shantae is betrayed by Rottytops to Risky Boots in exchange for her brains (although Risky chooses to back down from the deal) and loses her genie powers, she is then shown to be much less self-assured, despite the fact that she manages to defeat the evil embodiment of her powers, Nega-Shantae. She is then comforted by her friends who tell her they will help her protect Scuttle Town. It is mentioned several times that she doesn't know who her parents are, only that her mother was a genie. Although she's willing to explore more her genie side hoping that it will bring her closer to her mother, as mentioned above she turns down at the end of the first game the genies' offer to stay in the Genie Realm, and at the end of Risky's Revenge is shown expressing sadness as being even farther from her half-genie nature and subsequently her mother after having lost her magic powers. Abilities Shantae's Half-genie nature gives her several magic abilities. * Hair Whip (aka Ponytail Whip) - Shantae's trademark move. Shantae can use her long purple ponytail hair as a weapon, cracking it like a whip by shaking her head. It was revealed in Shantae: Risky's Revenge that this skill is not a by-product of her genie half, as she is able to use this ability after her powers are removed. It's possibile that this skill is a product of her own magic not tied to her genie side, or may have come from her father. * Magical Belly Dances - Shantae can use her ability to bellydance to cause various kinds of magical effects, most notably teleportation and transformation. * Transformation - Shantae can transform into many forms such as a monkey, elephant, spider, harpy, mermaid and Tinkerbat once she's learned the correct dance from a Guardian Genie, Magic Fountain or in the case of the Tinkerbat dance by buying the sequence from a man in Bandit Town. * Magic spells and magic items - Shantae can use various kinds of magic spells and items that are bought at shops. The magic properties of these items are apparently not tied to Shantae's genie powers, as she retains the ability to use them even after her powers are taken away in Risky's Revenge. * Costumes - Shantae has different outfits she can wear that change her stats and abilities. Creation thumb|100px|right|Shantae's appearance in working mock-ups ca. 1997 In 1994,http://telebunny.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/Shantae as Matt Bozon was still engaged with his future wife Erin, she got a flash of inspiration while coming back from her camp counselor days, and created the character of Shantae, named after one of the campers. Matt Bozon liked the idea and fleshed out the background and mythology surrounding the character. At the time, Erin had very long hair and Matt would often take a blow in his face each time she turned around. It inspired him for the Hair Whip, Shantae's trademark attack. Erin also came up with the idea that the character could use dances to conjure animals or charm them. http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/2985/ A 1997 archived version of WayForward Technologies' site shows that it was indeed one of the original point of her magics.http://web.archive.org/web/19970410130926/http://www.wayforward.com/Shantae.htm It was later refined as the transformation dances. The archived version of WayForward's site also depicts Shantae with a very different appearance, as a brunette with a less manga-ish appearance. She is described as a troubled genie, born without any magic power, although she was capable of hair whipping already. Trivia *Despite not having many games, Shantae has quickly proven herself to be one of the most popular video game characters of all times. *Shantae has the second longest hair out of any video game character in history, only beaten by SEGA character, Hatsune Miku from SEGA's 初音ミク -Project DIVA-. Gallery Early working mock-ups SHANTA~4.jpg|Shantae dancing (early concept) Pping.jpg|Shantae (early concept) Ddlel.jpg|Shantae (early concept) Artwork Shantae.jpg|Shantae (GBC) ShantaePromo_ShantaeBack.JPG|Shantae's back (GBC) ShantaePromo_ShantaePin.jpg|Shantae's kneeling (GBC) ShantaePromo_ShantaeSitting.jpg|Shantae posing (GBC) Wiki.png|Shantae (logo) Shantae_Virtual_Console_Cover.jpg|Cover Art (Virtual Console GBC reissue) Cast Shantae.jpg|Shantae (Risky's Revenge cast) Shantae-riskys-revenge-nds-cover-front-58208.jpg|Risky's Revenge Cover Art Illustrator practice shantae by nyassassin-d326npa.png|Shantae Fire Illustration ( Risky's Revenge) IPad Shantae LaunchWallpaper.jpg|Risky's Revenge Launch Wallpaper Dancer Shantae.png|Dancer Shantae (Risky's Revenge alternate costume) Shantaeprofile.png|Shantae (official profile) Shantae Risky's Revenge - Shantae.jpg|Shantae (official profile - variant) Shantae-sitting.jpg|Shantae (official profile - variant) Shantae Risky's Revenge wallpaper.jpg|Risky's Revenge wallpaper Shantae_Sitting_With_Shoe_by_MattBozon.jpg|Shantae Sitting Shantae_Mermaid_by_MattBozon.jpg|Mermaid Shantae Illus practice shantae v day by nyassassin-d3ea1qc.png|Valentine's Day image Shantae with fireball.png|Shantae with Fireball (1/2 GENIE HERO) Shantae HalfGenieHero new shantae design.png|Shantae (1/2 GENIE HERO) Shantae Battle Stance.png|Shantae (1/2 GENIE HERO) Shanate dance.png|Shantae (1/2 GENIE HERO) Shantae HalfGenieHero StretchGoalCostumes.png|Shantae Costumes (1/2 GENIE HERO) Monkey sitting.png|Monkey Shantae (1/2 GENIE HERO) ShantaeAnim.gif|Shantae Dancing in Shantae: 1/2 GENIE HERO Half Genie Hero Key Art.png|Shantae: 1/2 GENIE HERO Art In game Greek02.jpg|Early working mock-up Town.jpg|Early working mock-up Pink.jpg|Early working mock-up Snow.jpg|Early working mock-up Tree.jpg|Early working mock-up Shantae-cover.jpg|Shantae Box Art (GBC) Shantae GBC - SS - 01.gif|File Select (GBC) Shantae GBC - SS - 02.gif|Menu Screen (GBC) Shantae.scuttletownlighthouse.png|Shantae outside Lighthouse (GBC) Shantae GBC - SS - 09.gif|Shantae (GBC) Swamps of Shantae.jpg|Harpy Form in the Swamps (GBC) Shantae 102803 000 640w.jpg|Title Screen (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh ss GBA 01.jpg|Fighting (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh ss GBA 03.jpg|Standing (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh ss GBA 04.jpg|Confronting Risky (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh SS GBA 09.GIF|Using Magic (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh SS GBA 10.GIF|Dancing (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh SS GBA 11.GIF|Taking Damage (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh SS GBA 13.GIF|As Monkey (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh SS GBA 12.GIF|As Monkey (Shantae Advance) Shantae GBA - sh ss GBA 02.jpg|As Harpy (Shantae Advance) ShantaeRR ss - ds threelayerforest.jpg|Walking (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - riskyshipbattle.jpg|Fighting Risky (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - rottytops.jpg|With Rottytops (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - squidbaron 2.jpg|Fighting (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - monkey forest.jpg|As Monkey (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - elephant.jpg|As Elephant (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - elephant desert.jpg|Using Elephant Stomp (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - fieldflamethrower.jpg|Using Magic (Risky's Revenge) ShantaeRR ss - dungeon.jpg|Dancing (Risky's Revenge) Risky's Revenge Dancer Shantae.png|Dancer Shantae Ad (Risky's Revenge) Shantae RR SequinLandNews ValentineUpdateFeb2011.jpg|Valentine's Day image Shantae-2-fan-club-big.jpg|Shantae fan club exclusive image Original.jpg|Fighting Ammo Baron (The Pirate's Curse) Sprites Shantae GBC - sprite - shantae title screen.gif|Title Screen (GBC) Shantae GBC - sprite - shantae menuscreen.gif|Menu Screen (GBC) Shantae GBC - sprite - shantae townback.gif|Back during town navigation (GBC) Shantae Doing her Monkey Dance in Shantae (Game).gif|Monkey Dance (GBC) Shantae Doing her Elephant in Shantae (Game).gif|Elephant Dance (GBC) Shantae GBC - sprite - Monkey.gif|Monkey Shantae (GBC) Shantae GBC - anim - monkey transformation.gif|Transforming Into Monkey (GBC) Shantae GBC - sprite - Spider.gif|Arachnid Shantae (GBC) Shantae_GBC_-_sprite_-_Elephant.gif|Elephant Shantae (GBC) Shantae GBC - sprite - Harpy.gif|Harpy Shantae (GBC) Shantae GBC - anim - harpy transformation.gif|Transforming into Harpy (GBC) ShantaeRRSprite1.png|Shantae talking (Risky's Revenge) Shantae Risky's Revenge Monkey Dance.gif|Monkey Dance (Risky's Revenge) Mermaid_Shantae.jpg|Mermaid Shantae (Risky's Revenge) References Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Half-genies Category:Humans Category:Scuttle Town Category:Shantae Category:Protagonists Category:Shantae (GBC) Category:Shantae: Risky's Revenge Category:Heroes Category:Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Category:Shantae & The Pirate's Curse Category:Playable Characters Category:Gaurdian Genies Category:Shantae (series) Category:WayForward Category:Main Protagonists Category:Main Characters Category:Story Characters